Cenk's Skeleton Tattoo Pays Homage to Yukio Mishima and St. Sebastian

I met Cenk where I meet so many Tattoosday volunteers, outside of Penn Station on the plaza adjacent to Madison Square Garden.

He shared this, one of his four tattoos:

This is an interpretation of the depiction of St. Sebastian, as seen by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima, one of Cenk's favorite writers. A variation of the St. Sebastian imagery graced one of the many covers of Mishima's Confessions of a Mask:


Mishima even posed for a publicity photo as the martyred St. Sebastian:


This piece was tattooed by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. According to his website, he has since left Saved, and opened Three Kings Tattoo Parlor. Mr. Karr's work has appeared previously on Tattoosday here and here.


Thanks to Cenk for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Alexandra's Tattoo Asks "Whoooo ... Are ... You?"

I was walking through Penn Statiom in late August, when I stopped dead in my tracks after spotting this tattoo on the upper right section of Alexandra's back:


Tattoos are interesting to me, to begin with, but when they illustrate a work of literature, I am pleased to no end, even if the work in question is not necessarily one of my favorites.

One need not have read Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to recognize that this tattoo is based on that seminal work.

Initially, Alexandra shared a bit with me. She just moved to New York from Orlando, and is a big fan of literature, in general. She is "infatuated" with the story of Alice, and the "trippy, unique" universe of Lewis Carroll.

The scene depicted is Alice's encounter with the caterpillar, from the Disney movie, Alice in Wonderland. The caterpillar asks Alice, "Whooo ... are ... you?" This could be an innocent question, but Alexandra notes that this is also a basic philosophical question about humans, in general. Thus, the "W" formed by the smoke from the caterpillar's hookah, represents that seminal question, "Who....?"



In the weeks since I met her, Alexandra has become a fan of Tattoosday, and has shared more, including some photos of the tattoo in progress. She also elaborated a bit more about the whole experience of getting this, her first tattoo.

She directed me to this link here, where she blogs about her tattoo. She added to this, by telling me, via e-mail:

"I was actually scheduled to go and get the tattoo with another popular artist in the [Orlando] area, and was with a group of friends, one whom wanted to get her tattoo touched up. The artist I was trying to work with gave me a bit of the brush off, so we were told to come back later. So we headed down the road and found Fine Ink Studios. Barnett, the owner, had literally set up shop just 5 days prior. While my friend Ashlie was asking about her Fleur de Lys tattoo, Barnett had asked what I was going to leave to get. I told him about the caterpillar, and as professional as possible he told me, "Just so you know, I'd reeeeeally love to do that for you." I went back to the other store, something went wrong, and I decided to leave and go back to Barnett! Happy days, it turns out Barnett had ALSO been employed by Disney and actually had worked on the animation for the film Aladdin. That really sold me, and it was such an amazing 2 and a half hours. I spent the entire time singing Disney songs as loud as I could to get through the pain :)"

Thanks much to Alexandra for sharing so much about the tattoo. Welcome to the Tattoosday family!

Mike's Amazing Back Piece

I had just exited from the subway station in Bay Ridge when I spotted an extremely-inked couple.

I talked with both of them, but Mike was gracious enough to share this phenomenal back piece:


Mike, a musician, has been on the receiving end of the tattoo machine for many years. He is currently lead singer/bassist for The F.T.W.'s, a New York-based rock band.

He even speaks nostalgically about the mid-90's, when tattooing was still illegal in New York City. He has a critical eye and like many people with a commitment to old school tattooing, is dismayed by the skyrocketing popularity of the art, and the subsequent deterioration of the overall quality of tattoos.

For every great tattoo you see here on Tattoosday, there are two dozen others that were inked because they are trendy, and not out of appreciation of the art.

We had a lengthy discussion about this and I worried he might not be so down with the site because I don't always feature top quality tattoos, and am oftentimes just as interested in the story behind an average tattoo as I am in a convention-quality piece.

As for Mike's back piece, he credits Miss D'Jo at the fabulous Lark Tattoo in Westbury, New York for the creation of this gigantic tribute.

See other work from Lark on Tattoosday here.

Mike spoke of a friend and tattoo artist, Chris Lewis, who committed suicide many years ago. Chris had given Mike a knife as a gift, and after his friend passed, Mike had this quasi-memorial back piece done. The knives in the tattoo are modeled after the blade in question.

The detail in this gigantic tattoo is simply phenomenal. Just take a look again at the handiwork on the knives:

Much thanks to Mike and his girlfriend Amanda for stopping and talking tattoo with me. Your contribution to Tattoosday is much appreciated!!

Dolphin Tattoos

Dolphin tattoos are a great unique choice of design. The dolphin is a wonderful creature that is widely considered to be one of the most intelligent creatures in the world.

Dolphins tattoos are commonly very bright and vibrant and contain light shades of blues, greys and green. And they also symbolize a persons love for the ocean and water in general.

Enjoy these delight Dolphin tattoo pictures.

Amy Beckerman's Ink: Laughter and a Peony

It was Amy Beckerman's peony above her right ankle that first caught my attention:


This beautiful floral tattoo, designed by Dan Bythewood at Regeneration Tattoo in Alston, MA, is one of four tattoos she has.

Dan is a friend of Amy's from college who had studied art then went on to become a tattoo artist.

I thought this one was wonderful, as well:


The word "laughter" pefectly suits her, as Amy is a professional comic. This was also inked at Regeneration, but by Cathy Johnson.

You can see a segment of Amy performing below, as one of her characters, "Ida Felter":



Amy performs regularly in a show called "Dykes on Mics," the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at Comix (353 West 14th Street in Manhattan). It's a free show, starting at 9:00 PM. The next performance is Tuesday, September 28.

Amy's website is here.

Thanks to Amy for her enthusiastic participation in Tattoosday!

Knuckle Tattoos

Knuckle tattoos were once only common among bikers and gangsters but as the times turn more and more people are choosing more and more visible tattoo choices.

Checkout this great picture gallery of knuckle tattoos.

Nintendo Knuckle tattoo

Tattoo Designs-Carefully Chosen Design

Tattoo Designs-Carefully Chosen Design


Now, I guess you are proud owner of tattoo, such you are always wanted too. If you carefully chosen professional tattoo artist, you don’t need to fear any troubles, only now you can day after day to enjoy in art in your body. But if you are not born under a happy star, you can prepare for the inconvenience that it can bring your tattooing.

Tattoo Designs-Carefully Chosen Design


Possible Inconveniences after Tattooing
After tattooing can threatening diseases transmitted by blood, such as hepatitis C and B, tetanus, tuberculosis and HIV, and various bacterial infections of skin. Because of colors, around tattoo can experience various rashes, especially if you decide for red color, but there are also scars. Tattoo colors can trigger an allergic reaction even several years after tattooing.

Tattoo Designs-Carefully Chosen Design

Joe's Blue Koi (and a Honu, too!)

Joe has this amazing koi on his upper left arm, part of a 3/4 sleeve:


Initially, our discussion was brief. He is a fan of traditional tattoos and loves the Japanese style. He had this inked in 2001 by Civ at Lotus Tattoo in Sayville, New York. Work from Civ appeared previously here on Tattoosday.

I certainly thought it was unusual to see a blue koi. It's certainly not the most traditional color for a koi tattoo. When I asked Joe about it, he replied, "...there is no significance and I believe it was suggested by Civ...I thought it would certainly be unique, since I had yet to see a blue koi. It was strictly an aesthetic decision."

It was only later, when I was looking at the photo at home, that I noticed a fine detail I hadn't picked up before:


Having grown up in Hawai'i, that certainly looked like a honu design, or traditional Hawaiian sea turtle. I had remembered that Joe had a Polynesian-style tribal arm band on his right forearm, so I shot him an e-mail.

He replied:

The story behind the Polynesian sea turtle is ... I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii, 2001. I had wanted to get tattooed while there and found a shop in Waikiki, Skin Deep. Walked in, shot the shit with one of the guys for half an hour, had an idea of what I wanted to do, a Polynesian band around my forearm being that we were in Hawaii. It seemed fitting as far as a "souvenir" tattoo. Since the band I decided on did not work in a perfect circle around my arm, I decided on the turtle to make it work. We did the tattoo in about an hour and I still love it...

Thanks to Joe for sharing his koi tattoo. I am looking forward to featuring more of his work in the future.

Gun Tattoos

Gun tattoos are commonly seen as a symbol of toughness and strength which gives a person a sense of security and protection.

Gun tattoos are often seen on men but many women also enjoy this rugged artwork design.
Checkout these cool pictures of some great gun tattoos and perhaps they will assist you in you're search for the perfect design.

Rose Tattoos

Rose tattoos are often thought of as passionate and rather emotional symbols of love, which is perhaps the reason why rose tattoos are so popular and commonly seen on the body's of women.

The red rose is without a doubt the most commonly seen color, but blue and white have seen a steady increase in recent years.

Checkout these pretty rose tattoo pictures.

Li's Tattoo Recalls Saint Exupéry

A tattoo means the most to the person who has endured the process.

A tattoo often represents more than what meets the eye.

I met Li along the New Jersey Transit corridor of Penn Station.

She has five tattoos, and chose this one to share with us here on Tattoosday:


What I find intriguing about this piece is that it is not abundantly clear to a stranger what it is.

Li had this tattoo based on, she said, a drawing by Jean Piaget, that depicts the author Antoine de Saint Exupéry rolling an orange along the keys of a piano.

Saint Exupéry, most notably the author of The Little Prince, is Li's favorite author.

Li told me that the writer rolled the orange over the keys, which produced a soothing noise which helped his wife sleep at night,

I could not find the drawing to which Li refers, but I did find this reference, in Saint-Exupery: A Biography, by Stacey Schiff:

At Silvia's he devised a game he called "des oranges sur le piano." By rolling one orange up and down the black keys and a second over the white he was able to produce what sounded to most ears like honest Debussy.

This tattoo was inked by Rachel, formerly of No Ka Oi Tiki Tattoo, in Philadelphia.

Thanks to Li for sharing her fascinating tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Re-post: Paul's 9/11 Memorial

This post ran last year and it seems appropriate to re-run it again today:



Earlier this month, I mentioned meeting Paul here, on the bike path that runs along the southern tip of Brooklyn.

I saved the other tattoo photo I took of Paul's work for today, the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

What I didn't mention in the previous post is that Paul is a federal agent who grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

From his vantage point there, he watched the World Trade Center being built in the late 1960's. He was working in 6 World Trade seven years ago for the U.S. Customs Department when the towers came down, and he spent four months at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, searching for remains.

The tattoo is a poignant piece, with the sun shining between the towers. Below is Paul's badge from the Department of Homeland Security, which has evolved into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Particulatly unusual is the depiction of 9/11 in Roman numerals:

IX XI.

I don't believe I had ever seen it represented that way before.

Like the tattoo in the earlier post, this piece was inked by Joe at Brooklyn Ink.

Thanks to Paul for sharing this WTC memorial piece with us here on Tattoosday.

Click here for work from Brooklyn Ink appearing previously on this blog.